The Black Sea region's population is
8,439,213 based on the 2010 census. 4,137,166 people live in
cities and 4,301,747 people in villages. This makes it the
only one of the seven regions of Turkey in which more people
live in rural rather than urban areas.

Though the overwhelming majority is
Turkish, as well as some Laz people and Georgian people
living in the eastern Black Sea Region, and unlike both
ethnic groups in neighboring Republic of Georgia (where they
are Georgian Orthodox Christians), are Sunni Muslim.

The Black Sea region has a steep,
rocky coast with rivers that cascade through the gorges of
the coastal ranges. A few larger rivers, those cutting back
through the Pontic Mountains (Doğu Karadeniz Dağları), have
tributaries that flow in broad, elevated basins. Access
inland from the coast is limited to a few narrow valleys
because mountain ridges, with elevations of 1,525 to 1,800
meters in the west and 3,000 to 4,000 meters in the east in
Kaçkar Mountains, form an almost unbroken wall separating
the coast from the interior. The higher slopes facing
northwest tend to be densely forested. Because of these
natural conditions, the Black Sea coast historically has
been isolated from Anatolia.Running from Zonguldak in the west to
Rize in the east, the narrow coastal strip widens at several
places into fertile, intensely cultivated deltas. The Samsun
area, close to the midpoint, is a major tobacco-growing
region; east of it are numerous citrus groves. East of
Samsun, the area around Trabzon is world-renowned for the
production of hazelnuts, and farther east the Rize region
has numerous tea plantations. All cultivable areas,
including mountain slopes wherever they are not too steep,
are sown or used as pasture. The mild, damp oceanic climate
of the Black Sea coast makes commercial farming profitable.
The western part of the Black Sea region, especially the
Zonguldak area, is a center of coal mining and heavy
industry.

The North Anatolian Mountains in the
north are an interrupted chain of folded highlands that
generally parallel the Black Sea coast. In the west, the
mountains tend to be low, with elevations rarely exceeding
1,500 meters, but they rise in an easterly direction to
heights greater than 3,000 meters south of Rize. Lengthy,
trough-like valleys and basins characterize the mountains.
Rivers flow from the mountains toward the Black Sea. The
southern slopes—facing the Anatolian Plateau—are mostly
unwooded, but the northern slopes contain dense growths of
both deciduous and evergreen trees.

The Black Sea coast receives the
greatest amount of precipitation and is the only region of
Turkey that receives high precipitation throughout the year.
The eastern part of that coast averages 2,500 millimeters
annually which is the highest precipitation in the country.

Those who dislike the heat and
humidity of the summer in the Mediterranean and Aegean
regions of Turkey, escape to the plateaux of the mountains
in the Black Sea region which are almost permanently cloudy
and receive immense amounts of rain and are very attractive
with rich flora and fauna, forests, crater lakes,
waterfalls, rivers, streams, mountain and nature walk,
rafting, canoe and winter sports, hunting and fishing, grass
skiing, healing water and local dishes.